Benjamin Roberts is a research specialist in the Child, Youth, Family and Social Development research programme at the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC). Before joining the HSRC, he was research fellow in the Population and Poverty Studies Programme at the School of Development Studies at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. Dr Mbithi wa Kivilu is the director and head of the Centre for Socio-Economic Surveys section of the Knowledge Systems unit at the HSRC. Before joining the HSRC, Dr Kivilu worked as a lecturer at Kenyatta University in Nairobi, Kenya. Dr Kivilu also worked as a research consultant as part of a post-graduate fellowship for the Centre for Research in Applied Measurement and Evaluation based in the University of Alberta. He has undertaken projects for organisations such as the South African National Department of Education, Gauteng Department of Education, USAID, DANIDA, UNESCO, UNICEF and the World Bank. Yul Derek Davids is a research manager in the Centre for Socio-Economic Surveys section of the Knowledge Systems unit at the HSRC. Before joining the HSRC, he was manager of the Public Opinion Service at the Institute for Democracy in South Africa (IDASA). He has also managed the Afrobarometer project at IDASA, which conducts periodic public opinion surveys across Africa.